WAR ON STAGE DRESSES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1081, 21 March 1911, Page 9

WAR ON STAGE DRESSES.

A Melbourne girl in Paris writes: — ''Among the interesting tilings happening in this gay city is the d : scussion in the different leading newspapers of the important question of dramatic art in its relation to dress. A furious onslaught is being made by come of the critics against the invasion of the stage by the couturier. The matter under controversy is not beneath the notice of some of. the wisest and most learned literary men in Paris, who declare emphatically that the majority of those who regularly crowd the theatres are more interested in the daring gowns and hats worn on the stage than in the subtleties and literary merits of the picce being performed. One wellknown litterateur has unburdened his mind to this elfect:—'lf things go on like this it- is easy to see that in five or six years the theatres will only serve as so many permanent exhibitions of the dressmaker's latest models, and the dramatic critic will be. replaced by the fashion-delineator. All the success or failure of a play will be determined not by the intrinsic merit of the performance or what is performed, but by the quality' of the gowns worn bv the performers.' For .some years past this feeling has been growing, and the other night I-Went to see the plav that provoked,the outburst in print alluded to. I don't wonder the critics rebelled, for there waj an entire want of harmony between the scenes being acted and the nature of the costumes worn by the various characters. The drama was 'Le Febro,' a new and successful piece at Les Nouveantes. On the first night the audience received some of the exaggerated toilettes with disapproving • murmurs. Unfortunately, I was not present, but I went last week, and was greatly amused at one scene, where the leading lady arrives at a clandestine rendezvous. She is confessedly halfparalysed with fear of being recogliised in decidedly equivocal situation. But instead of the quiet, unostentatious garments one would have naturally expected; she was attired in a huge hat of scarlet velvet of most outrageous shape, trimmed with an enormous black feather. Her trembling form was enveloped in a travslling cont of royal ' blue velvet, • bordered with ermine, further adorned with magnificent lace. Veritable ropes of pearls and diamonds

hung from her neck, and a muff, quite a yard wide and falling to her knees, was a detail of her who from time to time declared her one idea was to escape observation. Truly, in this Gay Pareo curious mixtures of happy inspiration and ambiguous eccentricity aro to bo found on all sides."